Bloom & Breathe is the first full length album that I have ever been a part of as a musician. For the better part of the last 2 years, the other members of Gates and myself have spent countless hours writing and over thinking every note from writing to recording. In addition to creating music, Mike Maroney and I have worked for countless hours on the production the album's visual campaign. Album artwork is always a big deal for us and just as much focus goes into the design and production process as the music itself.

Mike and I created the album artwork for Bloom & Breathe as well as our previous releases. We wanted to create something that communicated the same language as the artwork for our first 2 EPs, but rather than being restricted to that style, the idea was to take it a step further and really expand the Gates aesthetic to uncharted territory. This included using a more vibrant color palette, manipulating/collaging multiple photos with geometric graphic elements, and photographing a portrait/figure. We wanted to create a thought provoking image that works in harmony with the lyrics. The album has many underlying lyrical themes and motifs focusing on life, death, and self-transformation. This visual narrative that we created is a metaphorical expression of the album's message. We put a lot of focus into the album as a tangible artifact. Just as much thought that went into the album cover, went into the insert, vinyl labels, back cover, vinyl colors paper selection, etc. We even used a spot UV coating for an illustration I created on the vinyl packaging, which is something we haven't tried before. The process of photographing and designing everything for the album was highly collaborative between Mike and myself, a lot of it fell into place nicely and we are really happy with how it came out in the end.

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to work with State Champs on the album artwork for their newest release "The Acoustic Things." I completed the entire project on the road for the first Gates full US tour which was an interesting process. Everyday we were in a different city and I was scavenging for wifi and carrying a laptop with me at all times to work on it whenever I had some free time. Being on the go non-stop and traveling all over the US became the main theme for the album cover. Really happy with how the final product came out, and it was very exciting to hear that the album ended up charting on some Billboard lists the week of its release!

07/18/14 – New York, NY – Webster Hall w/ Pentimento, Have Mercy, Gates, Vasudeva. This was by far my favorite show of this past tour. It was great to see so many friends and play with amazing bands in our area. Photo by our friend Aud Lew.

@gatesmusic remix album is available now! Blessed with talented and like-minded friends that helped us get this project off the ground. All proceeds will be donated to the Trevor Project and Planned Parenthood. Link in bio 🎸✌️️

King Family tree 🇮🇪🇬🇧🇺🇸 stitched by hand in the 1960's. So glad I got to see some of my folks this weekend! That tiny stitched type tho👌

Proud to have worked alongside the best crew in NYC @websterhall for the past year and a half. Real bummed to see it all come to end with the venue closing this month, but I'm so thankful for the time I got to spend within these walls with my brothers. Shout out to the Momos that couldn't make it out. Til next time, much love✌️️#enforcewebsterhall

Madison Square Park 🌧

Back home from an incredible tour with some of my favorite people, really gonna miss seeing this talented bunch of musicians kill it every night✌️️ 📸: @thatgrlaudrey

Shout out to @earthquakerdev and @charliewagers for showing a bunch of pedal nerds around the factory 🎸🤓

6.24.17 Flint, Michigan

@wet_mouth played one of the best solo performances I've seen in a long time. Forever geeking out on how talented my friends are 🤓🎹